How much will your knitting shrink?

Pieces knitted in stockinette stitch will shrink more in length than in width during felting. To calculate how much your piece will shrink, knit a good-sized swatch and use this table to “do the math.”

1. Measure the stitch gauge, length and width of the swatch, then felt it.

Width (example)

8 in. (20 cm)

2.5 st = 1 in. (2.5 cm)

Length (example)

8 in. (20 cm)

2. Measure the swatch after felting.Divide the measurement after felting by the measurement before felting.

7 in. (17.5 cm)7 / 8 = .875 (17.5/20 = .875)

6 in. (15 cm)6 / 8 = .75 (15/20 = .75)

3. Divide the finished size by the result. This is the length and width your piece should bebefore felting.

24 / .875 = 27.5 in. (61 / .875 = 70 cm)

36 / .75 = 48 in. (92 / .75 = 123 cm)

4. Multiply the width result by the gauge from your swatch. (For metric, divide by 2.54.) This is the number of stitches to cast on.